femboy ꒱ nohyuck

꒰ thirty three ꒱

Seeing Jeno again after their fight was incredibly awkward, and Donghyuck kind of felt like he was suffocating as he sat across from the taller boy.

Jeno looked better than he had seen him in the video, although his face still showed a few faded bruises. But overall he looked okay, better than he had expected, and Donghyuck tried his best not to think too hard about the relief he felt wash over him at that realization.

"Are you okay?" was the first thing Jeno said to cut through the silence, and Donghyuck instinctively gripped his mug harder. They were sitting at one of the outside tables at a cafe near Chenle's house, with two cups of warm tea in their hands as the sun set behind them, and the restaurant owner flicked on the sparkling fairy lights hanging above their heads as the patio got darker. The whole thing felt very romantic, Donghyuck thought, and he internally cursed himself for unintentionally picking out a spot that looked straight out of a cheesy drama to have this conversation.

"I'm... fine. I'm safe at least, I guess," Donghyuck murmured, staring down into his mug to avoid Jeno's eyes. Jeno nodded slowly, letting out a small huff of air through his nose.

"You're not staying with your parents right now, you're at someone else's house," Jeno said. His tone was flat, not raised in question, as if he were voicing a factual statement. That instantly caused Donghyuck to lift his head, his eyes widening in surprise.

"You're right, I'm staying with a friend... you- how did you know that?"

"I went to your house," Jeno admitted, his shoulders slumping a little, and he looked almost... ashamed, and a little embarrassed. "I tried to find you, make sure you were okay, but you were already gone."

Donghyuck's heart dropped to his feet, his mind reeling at the new information, and he had to take several deep breaths before he could even think of something to say in response. "Why would you- god, I can't believe you actually-" he cut himself off, exhaling sharply and gathering his thoughts before he continued, "okay, we really need to talk."

"Isn't that why I'm here?" Jeno said, a wry smile spreading across his face, but then it fell off of his face all too quickly, his tone suddenly changing into something serious. "It wasn't me, Hyuck. I didn't write that post."

"I... know," Donghyuck said slowly, and then it was Jeno's turn to look up at him in shock. Feeling flustered by the open look of surprise and pure hope on his face, Donghyuck scrambled to continue, "I mean... I don't know, but I think I believe you. I never thought you were someone who would do that to me, but I just... I don't know who else could've done it."

"I have some ideas," Jeno started, and he leant forward a little, trying to get Donghyuck to look up into his eyes, "I have a pretty good feeling I know who it is."

"Who?" Donghyuck said quickly, finally meeting Jeno's gaze, and the amount of emotion and sincerity he found in the taller boy's face almost knocked the wind out of him. He was suddenly reminded of what exactly made him fall so hard for Jeno in the first place, and he had to quickly reel in his own emotions before he inevitably started blushing.

"I'm not going to tell you until it's certain," Jeno said hesitantly, almost like he was trying to not disappoint Donghyuck too much, "but as soon as I know for sure, I promise you'll be the first person I tell."

Donghyuck slumped and pouted a little, feeling predictably sulky about being left in the dark, but eventually he nodded anyway. "Okay, fine."

"There's my good boy," Jeno said, a small smile on his face, before he immediately froze in his seat. The realization of what he said hit them at the same time, and Jeno choked out an awkward cough before mumbling a quiet, "sorry, it's a habit."

Donghyuck flushed, looking away from Jeno and murmuring back a timid "it's okay". They sat in awkward silence for a moment longer before the black haired boy cleared his throat, gathering all of his courage.

"I just wanted to say... I'm sorry all of this happened to you. If you need anything from me at all, please let me know. I know you don't really trust me right now, which I can understand and respect, but I'm still here for you if you need me."

"I know... thank you," Donghyuck said, his voice so soft that he's sure Jeno wouldn't have been able to hear him if they weren't sitting across from each other, "I saw the video... of you, uh, fighting those guys. Your face looks better now, but if you need anyone to help you apply first aid and stuff, just um... let me know."

"Are you saying my face was ugly before?" Jeno teased gently, breaking out into a small grin. Donghyuck felt tension release from his body that he wasn't even aware he was holding, and he found himself once again feeling incredibly grateful for Jeno somehow always knowing exactly what to do to make him feel better.

"Yeah," Donghyuck said breathily, chuckling quietly as he finally looked up at Jeno again, "you looked awful in that video. You're lucky nothing's broken, you idiot."

"It was worth it," Jeno said sincerely, his voice full of some emotion Donghyuck couldn't quite identify. But then in the next moment it was gone, and Jeno was back to trying to lighten the mood as he sighed dramatically. "I am suspended from school for about a week though, so there's that."

"You're what?" Donghyuck cried out, and Jeno laughed loudly as the blonde boy leaned forward to hit him on the arm, "are you stupid? That could end up on your permanent record, you know!"

"I'm not stupid," Jeno quipped back, leveling Donghyuck with a playful glare, "I was just... very emotionally invested in the situation."

"Emotionally invested my ass," Donghyuck grumbled, taking a scathing sip of his tea as Jeno continued laughing.

Whatever was going on between them, even if it was still a little tense and awkward, it felt... nice, like something in Donghyuck's life was back to normal. It felt like a huge piece of Donghyuck's broken heart was being slowly pieced back together.

"It's getting late," Jeno voiced softly after a while, and Donghyuck glanced up as the sky began to darken even more. "Come on, I'll take you home."

"Ah... you don't have to. It's really close, I can just walk on my own," Donghyuck said quickly, and Jeno grabbed his jacket before looking at him seriously.

"If you just feel uncomfortable with me knowing where you're staying right now, then that's fine... but I'm just worried about you getting back safe."

This level of genuine honesty was something he still wasn't quite used to with Jeno, so for what felt like the millionth time that night, he felt his stomach swoop at Jeno's words. If he was being honest with himself, he felt a little embarrassed that the taller boy had managed to make him feel like this again so soon after he was sure he never wanted to see Jeno ever again.

Whipped, Chenle would say, while grinning evilly in the way he always did when they talked about  Donghyuck's feelings for Jeno. He could already see the knowing smirk on Renjun's face.

Donghyuck cleared his throat, glancing up at Jeno and running a nervous hand through his hair. "Uh... it's okay, I'm not uncomfortable with you knowing where I'm staying. I just don't want to trouble you."

Jeno sagged in obvious relief, and it took everything in Donghyuck to not burst out into giggles at the action. Why was Jeno so fucking cute?

"In that case, it's absolutely no trouble at all," the taller boy said smoothly, in the playfully seductive tone he always used whenever Donghyuck was at his house, and this time the blonde boy couldn't hold back his laughter as Jeno held out his hand for Donghyuck.

"Fine, I won't you fight you on it," Donghyuck grumbled, taking Jeno's hand and looking at him with an over exaggerated pout just to make sure the taller boy knew he was being playful back. Jeno broke out into a wide grin and gave his hand a tentative little squeeze.

"Lead the way then, baby."